Rictus
No other single word in the whole of Paradigm City brings as much fear and horror to the citizenry as Rictus. On the festive holiday season, October through Mid-January, when thoughts and minds are turned toward love of family and friends, Rictus comes. For many living and working in Paradigm City, the holiday season is an unthinkable horror or a memoir of horrors past, for Rictus is a child killer. The most innocent are his victims, and solely for the purpose of inflicting the most agonizing pain an adult could fathom. One man, who's son was brutalized by Rictus, was asked his opinion of the villain. "Rictus is The Devil," was all he said. For thousands, he is right. Background The man whom would become Rictus was born a one Jerome Ward, the only son of former nurse Tabitha Ward. Tabitha Ward had been successful in hospice work until she met John Greene. Green was bad news, secretly a drug dealer and murderer. He first got Tabitha strung out on drugs, then got her pregnant, and then left. Tabitha, broke and high, gave birth to Jerome and lost him four months later to Social Services. Jerome spent most of his childhood bouncing from foster home to foster home, most families rejecting him a few months after adopting him because of his strangeness: he would mutter to himself, grin almost constantly, and display extreme hostility toward his educators and foster-siblings. These families never really gave Jerome a chance, not realizing that what they were dealing with was not a sociopath as most believed, but a boy who's genius with chemistry and biochemistry was off of the charts. In his early teens Jerome, largely given up on by society, was drawn into the one family he would ever know and the one which ever acknowledged his genius: the Chromatic Dragons. Within his new family Jerome gained popularity and support for his willingness and eagerness to help anyone asking for it. He developed a dozen new drugs for the gang to peddle, drugs that bomb-shelled the black market and caused the Dragons to start receiving funds in an almost constant wave. In time, Jerome rose to became the second in command of the entire group. As second in command Ward revealed a new aspect to his genius, a measuring of plots within plots within plots of such criminal genius that he earned the nickname Dr. Moriarty by his compatriots. Crimes that he planned and organized were executed flawlessly. What the group didn't know is that Ward had turned traitor, crimes that he did not plan he quietly tipped off authorities and hero groups so that in time nothing but his own plans were utilized. He boded his time patiently, finally stepping into the role of leader of the Chromatic Dragons but ensuring the current little, Dominguez, was located and arrested. As leader of the Chromatic Dragons, Ward initiated sweeping reforms that transformed the Chromatic Dragons from a street gang to a significant and dangerous fist of organized crime. He had law enforcement officials from all walks on his payroll; some by bribery and some by threat. Bloated with almost unlimited resources and power, the Chromatic Dragons spread out from Millennium City to establish themselves as the crime group of Paradigm City. His genius was soon observed by Mastermind. Mastermind offered him a seat as an Overlord and, astonishingly, Ward politely turned it down. He had his own little kingdom, thank you, and he was content. Then, everything changed. Rictus is Born In early December of 2001, Ward became aware of an Advent plan to raid Gestoni Technology, in order to steal a potent new chemical that had been processed from an exoplanet. It was believed that this chemical offered a means of virtually unlimited energy. Ward was incensed by the plan, as he felt that if any group should have the kind of resource that the United States Government would pay billions for it should be the Chromatic Dragons. Ward slipped the details to the Defenders League. His plan was to get the heroes and villains fighting so that he and his men could quietly slip off with samples of the chemicals themselves. All was going according to plan: the Defenders taking on The Geodesics. Ward and his men scuttled in as they fray went on and Ward was spotted by Ultraviolet, the leader of The Geodesics. Intending to shoot Ward she missed and hit the experimental tank instead. The resultant explosion vaporized the team of Chromatic Dragons that were with him, but he was just far enough away to avoid the blast. Regardless, she was showered with the exo-chemical and the force of the blast threw him off of the catwalk and into a vat of chemicals below. From there he was swept into the sluice gates. It was believed that Jerome Ward had not survived the incident. On year later, at Christmas, a singular Mall Santa at the Mission Hills Sanctuary Mall, happily injected 75 children with a vile poison known as Happy Jasper, resulting in all of those childrens' deaths. The man hunt was on, but nobody had anything to go on except for the poison and a playing card, the Joker, left on the Santa chair. The following December, in 2004, this same playing card was found at twelve elementary schools after strychnine was discovered in the water fountains, resulting in fifteen deaths, At this point, the media labelled the unknown serial killer as 'Rictus'. In February of that same year, rumors of a deranged clown leading the Chromatic Dragons began to circulate through law enforcement agencies. The gang members were rounded up by the dozens, and each of them gave a peculiar description of their leader: white skin, creepy red lips always fixed in a smile, and long green dreadlocks. The arrested gang members confirmed that their leader, Jerome Ward, was the serial killer known as Rictus. Armed with that information, Jerome Ward was converged on and arrested. The media recording of his perp-walk to the station is etched into memory: at once point Rictus turns to the camera, grinning, and releases a blood curdling cackle. Since that time, Rictus has escaped from prison over a dozen times, and is the only professional criminal known to have ever escaped the super-prison Stronghold, not just once but a whopping ''eight ''times. He continues to employ elaborate plots that kill dozens of children throughout the holiday seasons, and truthfully continues to command the Chromatic Dragons despite the fact that publicly the Overlord Jurassic is in charge of the Dragons, and both men constantly vie for power. Rictus has killed five superheroes, which places him in a notch on the level of criminality that surpasses even the Overlords. He is a myth and a legend, a boogey man of the nth degree, and the only super-humanly powerful criminal who's name has become synonymous with Christmas. Skills, Talents, & Equipment Ritus is a true mastermind. He is a pure sociopath whom excels at manipulating others through deceit, charm, guile, and outright threats. He is a genius with chemistry and biochemistry, capable of making a variety of drugs, intoxicants, and medications that can have very elaborate effects but mostly he just creates virile poisons. His most notorious toxin is called Happy Jasper. When imbibed or injected into the victim, death occurs within minutes. The victim suffers incredibly violent seizures as the facial muscles stretch and lock into a horrific grin. The victim then suffers complete respiratory collapse, and his skin turns an ashen white hue. It is a horrible, horrible death. Happy Jasper has become Rictus' calling card and his most feared toxin. Years of street life have made him an expert with small arms, knife-fighting, and street brawling. He is a consummate expert with gangs and gang activities, keeping very close tabs on every single gang and its members operating in Paradigm City. He also constantly observes supers and their doings, using his 'down time' to learn everything he can about a particular hero. He has, on many occasions, startled a hero by revealing the hero's secret identity to him or asking after the health of their family members. Rictus has an insight into human nature that is almost preternatural. He understands how people think, and why they do what they do, information that he can and does use to utterly destroy the target of his 'affections'. He is a casual and callous killer, often executing people simply for the sheer fun of it. His most famous caper was when, in prison, he agreed to therapy sessions with a female psychologist, Amy Anderson. He got completely into her head, including ensuring that Ms. Anderson's fiancee proposed to her, buying her a new car when her old one fell apart, and being more open and frank with Dr. Anderson more than he had been with any other member of her profession. In the end, she was so mesmerized by the man that she agreed to take his place and disguised herself as him, while Rictus slipped out in her clothing. Dr. Anderson was prosecuted, and killed herself while in police custody. Rictus also frequently employs toys that have been made deadly. Decks of cards made out of thin metal with razor sharp edges that can slice into arteries, yo-yos that explode like miniature grenades, drones armed with micro-missiles, joke flowers that spray acid,and chattering teeth that hone in on targets to latch onto a foot or ankle and explode with enough force to take the whole leg off are some of his most used and utilized gags, but as technology increases the virulence and death-dealing powers of his toys do as well. Most often when he is encountered he will be armed with a variety of knives and a single handgun. He dislikes using handguns as, as he has said, they don't give him the opportunity to look into a victim's eyes and watch the life go out as a good knife thrust does. It's almost certain that he will have a variety of lethal toys on his person as well. Powers As frightening as Rictus' appearance and talents are, his single pair of superpowers are what pose the real danger and frustration to heroes. In the first place, he possesses a healing factor of previously unknown scale. He doesn't suffer scrapes or bruises, and is immune to all kinds of diseases, drugs, toxins, and poisons. A bullet to the head heals in seconds. He has even been observed to have his left arm sheared off in a fight with Jurassic, and his arm was wholly restored less than two minutes later. It is not known if he could regenerate from sever injury such as immolation, being exploded, or being decapitated. His most terrifying superpower is his enervation field. His body constantly produces an invisible, soundless, and unknown form of energy that affects the cellular levels of anyone caught within its 20 foot radius. The field is harmless to most people, but to supers it is perilous. For reasons unknown, any--and all--superhuman abilities that enter the field are nullified. It's like flipping a switch: one second you have superpowers, the next you don't. Ignorance of this field has lead to the deaths of several superheroes, and a multitude of super-humanly powerful criminals trying to oust Rictus. Now that his field is public knowledge, heroes doing their homework are wise to stay far away from the field. Even Mastermind is afraid of Rictus. Appearance and Personality Rictus is a black man 45 years of age and is six feet tall. He weighs 170 pounds. His exposure to the chemicals that imbued him with super abilities has left him with pure white skin, bright green hair always worn in dreadlocks, and lips that are a deep crimson. Many people believe that Rictus' grin is permanently etched into his face but this is not the case, he just grins a lot. He has a penchant for wearing Zoot Suits,his favorite color combination being deep purple with horizontal yellow stripes. Rictus is wildly unpredictable in his demeanor. When dealing with his Chromatic Dragons he can be sublimely respectful and caring, even downright affectionate but then suddenly snap and murder one of them outright for no apparent reason whatsoever. When dealing with the police, he just laughs, and keeps laughing even as he allows himself to be arrested. When dealing with super-heroes, anything goes. He swings between being polite and understanding, curious, even charming and trying to lighten the situation by spewing some of his favorite 'dad jokes', or he can be vicious, ruthless, and murderous. On at least two occasions Rictus has put a plan into motion only to immediately surrender when confronted by a hero; on another occasion he made frank and honest apologies to a super heroine, Straightedge, for all the trouble he caused her and sent her birthday cards and Christmas gifts for a year. With Rictus, one just never knows.